The new EU legislation that forces manufacturers to reduce the amount of harmful chemicals and materials in their products will affect the Iyonix. The computer’s motherboard will require a costly resdesign in order to meet the requirements of the new RoHS rules, especially to meet the low-lead levels in the PCB solder, say contacts close to Castle. Well placed sources say that items manufactured before the July 1 deadline can still be shipped and sold. It is understood that the AdvantageSix A9 range is RoHS compliant. Castle have declined to comment. My take: It’s a bird, it’s a plane… No, it’s the RoHS which Castle could’ve seen coming since 2003.
Kinda ironical: I consider(ed) using a Lyonix or some sorts purely for the lower power usage for running 24/7, then it turns out they don’t comply to environmental directives.
Some of the comments on Drobe are interesting as well; this could mean serious trouble for Castle if some of the parts they use aren’t supplied any more.
edit: bottom comment from Castle allays these fears. They’ve got plenty of stock they’re allowed to sell still.
Edited 2006-08-01 18:51
It’s not like they are selling tons of Lyonix PC…
Where not talking about DELL here. And they should have seen it coming. Niche market for a nice PC/OS.
That’s how it always begins.
Set a precedent with the small and weak, then force it upon everybody.
> That’s how it always begins.
> Set a precedent with the small and weak, then force it upon everybody.
Everybody (well… nearly everybody
in the electronics business was aware of RoHS for years!
They *had* the time to comply.
It’s not like they are selling tons of Lyonix PC…
RISC OS is still pretty popular in the UK.
I bet they didn’t have the right lobbyists.
Edited 2006-08-01 19:26
Look, this may not be nice for Iyonix, but who wants a load of lead and toxic chemicals in their workplace or landfills? All this talk of lobbyists is overblown: the EU put the good of its citizens over the good of a few companies, and that – frankly – is how it’s meant to be.
Edited 2006-08-01 22:19
Bull, how is causing products to dye prematurely due to cracked solder joints and tin whiskers a good thing for citizens. Especially since I bet the risks from lead in electronics is miniscule. Even if it were a serious risk recycling would be a better option.
I wonder WHICH idiot created RoHS directive. As usual stupid ecologists which care only about money, and they are the easiest way to e.g. block building of windmills which generate power because of birds when paid well. There was a discussion about RoHS at Polish board about electronics (http://www.elektroda.pl), and they said that Pb-less soldering quality degrades at the temperatures ~5C or so. I wonder why they said that military and medical equipment should be soldered with Pb.
As usual stupid ecologists which care only about money
Of course, ecologists only care about money, that’s why they’re imposing restrictions on companies.. *rolleyes*
RoHS == someone (factories) has to buy new equipment
RoHS == more frequest hardware failures => someone (users) has to buy new equipment
“As usual stupid ecologists which care only about money”
– I thought that was an odd statement too…
*questionmark above my head*
“Further Iyonix motherboard builds will require a PCB redesign as there is one component used on the PCB that is not available lead-free in its package. There are, however, larger pinout versions of that device that are lead-free.”
This is a very common problem in electronics.
for Castle to design a “NEW CHEAP ARM” product. There are a lot of cheap choices around that could enable 3D acceleration without the need of NVIDIA.
Lead is about 1/3rd of the tin/lead eutectic alloy. This alloy is almost ideal in it’s washing and melting performance, but even more importantly, it doesn’t create those nasty tiny needle-like chrystals that pure tin does.
Those christalizations will be the cause of many premature havaries of RoHS components, and will cause a larger number of computer spareparts to be dumped in the environment, eliminating or even worsening any possible improvement by not using lead.
These chrystals grow by themselves during the years, and eventually cause short circuits in the motherboard.
So, there’s your RoHS. Brilliant shoot-yourself-in-the-foot environment project.